Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Discussion: CEG Forums

I agree with the no avatar/signature pics ( I'm on a broadband connection too ). It just gets out of hand on most other forums.

The biggest improvement to the forums that I could think of would be a "Search all Forums" feature to the search function. A lot of times I have to run the search multiple times using the different forum topics in order to find something that could be posted on a number of different topics. It would speed things up and be easier for people to search before posting a question.

- Chris

My opinions on a few things

Search! - I assume the update will take care of this problem.

Nested forums - Again I hope the new version of whatever software will take care of this. Then you could have one forum called "engines" with duratec and zetec related forums under those. Could also nest a few of the branches to keep the top level of forums a little cleaner.

Classifieds Forum - You need a few people to stay on top of this one and make sure you setup rules in advance. One forum I am on had so many problem with people selling things they did not have and scamming members that the rules for the classified section include that you must put up a picture of the parts you are selling with a sign with the date and your forum name written on it (no photshopping it in)

A different type of archive - Currently the "archive" has random conversations from 3.5 years ago and hidden in there you will find a few good threads. Make the archive all the good threads and split it out something like this.

General
Modifications
AutoX/Track
Mechanical
Detailing
Electronics/Stereo

Just get rid of the old stuff all the useful information has been moved into the new forum move threads here if they need to be kept around for later people to read.

Avatars - Don't care much for them. It might be nice to be able to give them to moderators if the software supports them but if you give everybody access to them you get people pushing the envelope of SFW in any way they can and going way over it many times.

Signatures - Continue blocking pictures from sigs they are annoying.

Attachments - Let people do small attachments limit size of attachment and how much one user can store.

HOW TO - Get a how to forum and put them all in there if the main site is not going to be updated maybe Lance could start pointing links from the main site into the forums so the information could be kept up to date without his need to give up control of the main site.

"Politics and Religion" - If you do this warn that you could be offended if you go here (yada yada yada) and to keep everything to that forum. Anything remotely dealing with Politics and Religion goes into there and anything said outside of that forum about it will be dealt with harshly.

Moderators - Yes it looks like a few more could be used in various places. Somebody named GTO Pete seems to be spreading himself a little thin and could use some help. I think most forums could use more than one moderator and I am not sure how many supermoderators/admins we have that can deal with all forums.

Remove some moderators ? - I saw that horseydug is still a moderator of Troubleshooting his last post was on 09/17/04 I don't know if he is still around or if his name is just sitting there.

SCCA/NASA Events - Rename this forum to something that is better understood as what it is for something like "Racing/ Motorsports" or "AutoX/Track" I would suggest moving drag racing into that forum and giving dyno their own seperate forum.

Main site - Either let somebody else update it or just point the link to the correct places in the forum so the information can be kept up to date. (or dare I suggest a Wiki for the FAQ and other things that should be updated)

I like the nested forum idea (see SVTperformance Terminator section)

and im sure if we got rid of almost all the old archives that would free up a lot of space for the community to put towards other things.

I also love the rule on more leniency about some things.

From Pete's other thread:

Additional forums
Transaction Feedback forum
Almost all forums have them. Very easy to moderate with some simple, basic rules.
Obviously I like this. - http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=general&Number=1062135

Auto discussion forum - non-Contour/Mystique related
Would be a great addition for thsoe that want to discuss automobiles without having to weed through Common Interests.

For Sale / WTB forum
Again, something most other sites have. Some basic rules stickied on top would make things very easy.

I like those.

Combine forums
- SCCA / NASA Events w/ Dyno and Drag - rename to Track / Dyno (?)
Both forums are used little, combining them would make sense.

Agree

- Combine Duratec Performance & Duratec Maintenance

- Combine Zetec Performance & Zetec Maintenance


Agree



Avatars
- Limited in size. No animation. Must follow forum rules. (work safe, no nudity, etc.)
Yep

- Avatars for moderators only?
Is bandwidth really that tight?


Main Site
- Update. Its is terribly outdated.
- Grant a few moderators the ability to make changes / add some site admins.


Search
Very weak. Everyone knows this.

Yep. VBulletin coming?

Rule Clarification
Some guidance / clarification as to how "strict" moderators and admins should be enforcing the rules.

Yes, we need more. Let Rara loose sometimes to clean house.

^^^ Good one!

Nice write up on teh sticky Pete, clear, informative, and all sound like great steps.

What about a forum for trolls? Example.. on Neco, they used to have a focus forum for all things focus. On some G6 forums.. we have one dedicated to Malibus and all things malibu related. Although.. the contour doesn't have any living relatives cept the Fusion.. but there aren't many around. A GTO specific forum??